Rice and Melted Pudding
by Yaji's Girl
Summary: A few familiar Dragon Ball characters try to spend their day at a tournament in Dragon Ball Z.


**They were crazy, but I wish they had at least shown glimpses of this trio of villains in DBZ. Anyways, enjoy their day at the World Martial Arts Tournament.**

Mai removed her dark gloves and wiped her forehead, sopping the sweat up with them. She panted and turned to her tiny fox friend, demanding, "Give me some water, Shu. I think I'm about to roll over and die in this heat."

Shu nodded and reached into the large duffle bag he had slung over his shoulder, pulling out a plastic water bottle and handing it to his comrade. He grinned and said enthusiastically, "There you go! It sure is hot out here; I wonder how much longer this line will take." These words had the tall, pretty woman, far past her prime age, but nevertheless beautiful, stand on her tiptoe and grimace as she found that she couldn't see past the endless crowd. Tired of this nonsense, she knelt down and tucked her gloves into her pocket, continuing to brush her dark hair out of her face. Worried for his friend, the fox asked, "Are you all right, Mai? You aren't looking so good. I'll wait here if you want to sit in the shade."

"I'm fine, Shu," she said, tipping her head back and nearly inhaling the water from the plastic bottle. Then she forced it back into the fox's hand and continued, "I just don't understand why Pilaf wants to come here so badly. He could always listen to the announcer over the radio..."

Shu only shrugged his shoulders as his friend stood back up to her full height, dusting dirt off of her grey trench coat. The two of them were standing in line for tickets to the twenty-fifth World Martial Arts Tournament, something Pilaf had been planning to visit for a few years now. He had been intrigued by this legendary Mr. Satan figure, somebody that carried quite a name and would possibly be interested in carrying out some evil plans the imp had in mind. Mai couldn't stand crowds, but orders were orders. If the blue man said to wait in line and she didn't obey, it was her job on the line.

Mai crossed her arms as she saw a little, baby blue parasol part the crowd, gathering a few laughs. But Pilaf, the one carrying the ridiculous object and hiding in its shade, only ignored the jeers. He made his way straight to his two henchmen and barked, "What's taking so long, you two? This line hasn't budged at all, and I'm getting sweaty!"

"Do you want some water?" Shu offered, holding the almost empty water bottle Mai had consumed in his paw.

Pilaf, however, only spat, "No, I don't want any water! I want my tickets!"

"I'm sorry, sire, but we're moving as quickly as possible," Mai apologized, looking the blue imp straight in the eyes. But he only pouted, his bottom lip jutting out as far as it possibly could.

"That's not enough! We need to get through this crowd more quickly or all of the good seats will be taken!" he yelled, causing the crowd around them to disperse a little, scared of the small fellow. Readjusting the crown perched on his head and recomposing himself, he exhaled quickly and muttered, "Now, I have a better idea than waiting in line. I think that we should just sneak in."

The two of them nodded, one aging woman and one aging fox, as they said in unison, "Good idea, sir."

The three of them, led by Pilaf's tiny, blue parasol, pushed their way out of the crowd. Once relieved of the concentration of people, Mai was able to drop her shoulders and breath properly, whereas Shu was sitting down, rearranging the contents of his large duffle bag. But Pilaf had other plans in mind, and before they knew it, the two of them could see Pilaf's parasol outside of a gate clearly stating 'Authorized Personel Only'. They each scrambled back to their feet, rushing after their boss after he called, "Come on, you two!"

They slid into the forbidden entrance after the blue imp, sneaking along stealthily. Fortunately, the trio moved through the corridor with ease, not running into anybody. When they reached the end, they saw Pilaf's blue parasol at the door, keeping it open for the group of them. Then they were outside again, back into the intensity of the heat. They weren't with the sweaty crowd however; the door had led them straight to the fighters all waiting for the preliminary stages to begin.

The group of them jumped as large, muscular men all began running around, flying around, punching around, kicking around, and anything else they could dream of to warm up. Mai slid a look of anxiety to Shu, who was shaking his head in fear. All of these men looked like definite contenders for whatever plan Pilaf was planning to do; they couldn't see why the imp didn't just settle with one of them. But the imp disappeared in the crowd of men along with his parasol, leaving his two servants uncertain of what to do.

Shu clung on to Mai's trench coat and said, "I don't like the looks of this place. I feel even smaller than I usually do here!"

"Me, too, Shu," Mai comforted her friend, patting him on the top of his head. They glanced around, their eyes wide with fear without their boss to guide them. But within a few seconds, Mai spotted Pilaf's small, blue hand in a forest of legs, signaling for them to follow him. The pair of them stumbled forward, no questions asked.

After following the imp by ducking under the large fighters, having to crawl their way through in some cases, they reached a large platform in the middle of the enclosing. Then, he shushed, "Look, there's the man I want to hire. He's right up there, you see?" And, standing only a few feet before them on the platform was the spectacular Mr. Satan, looking prepared to give an announcement. He was a stocky man with a large red robe over his shoulders, certainly impressive from their point of view. He cleared his throat and grabbed the microphone from the thin, blond-haired man standing just a foot away, surprised by the sudden action. Shu and Pilaf both watched eagerly, but Mai was a bit more doubtful. What could this man, the one with a bad beard, do for them that their numerous robots couldn't?

"Welcome, everybody, to the twenty-fifth Tenkaichi Budokai! As you all know, I'm Mr. Satan, and I'm here to set a standard that you all have to compare yourselves to."

With these words, two men came up on the stage, to which Pilaf whispered excitedly, "Look! He even has his own minions!" The employees, dressed in orange garb, walked to a large lump underneath a piece of tarp. Pilaf stood on his toes, continuing, "I bet it's a huge gun under that! I bet it's a huge gun!" Mai only crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, seeing her master disappointed when what was unveiled wasn't a gun at all, though it was a strange contraption.

"This, my friends, is a punching machine!" Mr. Satan announced to a roar of cheers. "We've decided to do away with preliminary rounds due to the vast number of competitors and instead use these punching machines! I'll be proud to demonstrate exactly how you use one."

He let his robe fall to the ground and extended his arms, cracking his knuckles. Then, after a quick huff of breath, he stood in front of the machine and pulled his arm as far as possible before releasing it like a spring, punching the device with all of his strength. Pilaf only looked in awe at the enormous force that was Mr. Satan, and his eyes quickly darted to the numbers along the side that read 137.

"How's that for a spin?" Mr. Satan asked, grabbing his champion buckle on his large, brown belt. "Only fifteen more of you all will get in, so try to score as high as possible. Now, let the punching begin!"

The trio heard roars of approval from everybody except for a small crowd gathered close to the front of the stage. They were acting mightily, nearly dragging their steps as they went to get in line for the punching machines in boredom. It was an odd group, too. There was a tall, young, and beautiful woman with blond hair. There was a short, bald man clinging to her arm. There was a tall, green man with antennae that looked frighteningly familiar along with a frighteningly familiar man with black, spiky hair. Mai's jaw dropped, knowing she recognized that haircut from somewhere...

"Sire," she said urgently, demanding his attention and pointing to the group. "Sire, I need you to look at these people and tell me if we've ever seen them before."

But Pilaf was too entranced by Mr. Satan standing before all of the fighters doing his favorite, random poses to motivate the contestants. It was only when Mai grabbed him by the shoulders and redirected him that he saw the fighters, but he only shrugged, "The two taller men do look familiar, but I doubt we've ever run into them before. If we had, they'd probably be dead." And with that confidence, he turned back around the Mr. Satan, trying to catch his attention.

Shu tugged on her trench coat, gulping, "You know, Mai, they do look awfully familiar... and not in a good way."

"I know," she simply said, watching the group of them progress through their individual lines. "I don't like the looks of them."

The pair of them watched as they stepped up to the punching machines, each hardly putting in any effort and easily scoring in the 200 range. It wasn't until another shorter, spikier haired man stepped up and blew up the whole machine that Mai's eyes widened, following the tall, green one. "You know," she said, grabbing her gloves out of her pocket to wipe her face again, "that green one does look an awful lot like King Piccolo."

The little fox's eyes widened, now tracing the green alien's every step. They both had identical scowls, identical antennae, identical pink bands across their arms, and that memorable green hue. It had to have been King Piccolo; never had anybody made such an impression on him. Shu hid behind Mai's coat, whispering, "I think you're right."

"And that tall one," she said, pointing to the man with messy hair, "he's... he's..." She gasped for air, unable to finish her sentence. Finally, she got it out in a yelp, "He's Goku!"

Shu jumped back, tapping Pilaf on the shoulder and saying, "Um, sire, if you'll spare a moment, I have something important to show you..."

His voice dwindled as Pilaf spun around and snapped, "What is it?" But the blue imp's eyes increased, becoming large orbs as he saw a figure looming over him, finally close enough for him to recognize. It was indeed Goku, his biggest enemy and the biggest reason for his downfalls. But the boy, now a man, just brushed them aside with an apology, gravitating towards food. Pilaf watched the man with that familiar haircut and fell to the floor, unconscious.

Shu grabbed the dropped blue parasol and stuffed it into this duffle bag as Mai scooped up their boss. Giving the fox a look, she exclaimed, "Let's get out of here!" And the two of them leapt over and under the fighters, finally escaping through an emergency exit.

Piccolo glared at the three, his eyes moving between a retreating Goku and the two scared henchmen, cradling the thing that had actually fainted. He stood back suspiciously, wondering why those three imbeciles were scared of the Saiyan and not himself.


End file.
